Big O music...
https://youtu.be/1o4s1KVJaVA?si=DnbvM3e7445WaAOk
Source: Wikipedia, Roy Orbison, the big O
https://share.google/i6rOegpCSjRVHdW7y
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| Power saw I inherited from my brother upon his passing in 2017. Cannot cut wood much wieldier than 2 by 4 inches or so..... |
Belatedly memorializing unfortunate death of two guinea piggays, I didn't do it.
How about that Spain Belgium quarter final game in the angels (LA) today? The Spaniards absolutely dodged a bullet as a Spanish defender accidentally handballed in his penalty zone after another defender from Spain ricocheted the ball onto his hand. The umpire missed that and didn't want to go to video referee, VAR, but play on. Really should have been a Belgium penalty shot at that point. Anyway Spain dominated and proceed to the semi finals against a formidable France. Putain de Francais.
Well my garage is always really a Dionysian mess. Seems like sometimes you need some chaos in the order as a balance, speaking of chaos let's take another look at the Wass/Dowling debacle here in New South Wales....
‘Clear attack on my independence’: Judge at centre of DPP controversy speaks
Michaela Whitbourn and Clare Sibthorpe
Updated July 10, 2026 — 3:13pm,first published 8:53am
The judge at the centre of a NSW inquiry into the state’s top prosecutor has defended her decision to make an explosive submission to a parliamentary committee that ultimately made damning findings against the Director of Public Prosecutions.
District Court Judge Penelope Wass said in a decision on Friday that her submission to the upper house inquiry was made “in accordance with ordinary judicial practice”.
Wass said that “without the support of the chief judge or the attorney-general, I was obliged to take appropriate steps to resist a clear attack on my independence by a powerful stakeholder in the criminal justice system”.
In a controversial report, released on Tuesday, a 4-3 majority of NSW MPs made damaging findings that DPP Sally Dowling, SC, authorised her office to give a negative story about Wass to a media outlet in 2024 and falsely denied doing so in her evidence in parliament.
The majority recommended the state government consider establishing a new parliamentary oversight committee for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).
The inquiry was blasted by Attorney-General Michael Daley as a “stitch-up” and former DPP Nicholas Cowdery, KC, described the report as “outrageous”. Three MPs dissented in strong terms from the majority’s findings and recommendations.
But Sydney silk Arthur Moses, SC, a former NSW Bar Association president, said on Friday that the majority had made “a serious finding in relation to the evidence of the DPP”.
“The finding cannot be summarily ignored or derided by the use of intemperate language,” Moses said when approached for comment by this masthead.
Wass defended her submission on Friday when she delivered a judgment in response to an application by the ODPP last year for her to recuse herself from a number of criminal matters amid the ongoing dispute between the DPP and the judge.
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The application was made on the grounds of apprehended bias, namely whether an appearance of bias arose from the fact Wass made a submission to NSW parliament last year accusing the ODPP of giving Sydney radio station 2GB information to “embarrass and defame” her. There was no allegation of actual bias.
The judge decided that in three of the four cases she did not need to step aside.
“The statements made in the submission do not involve in any way anyone now involved in the proceedings, including the director,” Wass said.
“I am not satisfied that the observer might reasonably apprehend that I might not bring an impartial mind to the resolution of the questions I’m required to decide.”
However, Wass decided that in a fourth case, at the stage of sentencing, it was prudent to recuse herself even though she did not “affirmatively conclude” that she should do so. It meant that the offender would be sentenced by another judge.
In his comments on Friday, Moses said that “careful consideration will need to be given as to what if anything should happen with the finding” about the DPP’s evidence to the inquiry.
“Transparency and accountability demand that occur to prevent damage to public confidence in the administration of justice. The consideration of the finding should be done calmly and carefully out of respect for the people of NSW, Judge Wass, SC, and the DPP.”
The majority of the committee recommended the state government consider establishing a new parliamentary oversight committee for the ODPP, raising concerns about potential politicisation of the independent agency.
Moses supported the consideration of a parliamentary committee overseeing the ODPP with a limited role that did not extend to overseeing prosecutorial decisions.
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He said the government should give serious consideration to a specific standing parliamentary committee similar to the NSW committee “that has oversight of ICAC, or the UK House of Commons Justice Committee that oversights the administration, funding and efficiency of the DPP in the UK”.
“I am strongly opposed to any committee having any role in oversighting decisions to prosecute or not prosecute for the reasons advanced by Nicholas Cowdery, KC, and the NSW Bar Association, but there is no apparent reason why a standing committee should not be considered to oversight matters similar to the UK … committee,” Moses said.
During her evidence before the upper house justice and communities committee last year, Dowling admitted her office effectively gave a story about Wass to 2GB in October 2024.
Dowling vehemently denied she authorised the ODPP’s media manager providing the information to 2GB, and said she only became aware that her office was the source of the story more than a year later, in December 2025. The majority did not accept her denial.
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Moses said that it “can never be the role of the ODPP to background or leak stories concerning judges”. He said this conduct might have the tendency to undermine public confidence in the judiciary.
“That can never be acceptable,” he said. “Judges have to decide cases based on the evidence and the law.”
The 2GB story was aired amid an apparent rift between the ODPP and some District Court judges, including Wass, over sexual assault prosecutions.
“The committee is satisfied the story was pitched in retaliation for Judge Wass’ previous criticisms of the [ODPP],” the majority said.
But two of the three Labor MPs on the committee and one Greens MP issued stern dissenting statements.
Greens MP Sue Higginson said in her dissent that the majority’s “unfounded and biased findings … are both irresponsible and incredible”.
The upper house inquiry was ostensibly set up to examine statutory identity protections for children in criminal proceedings, but it focused almost exclusively in its hearings on Dowling and Wass.
There was no hint in its name or general terms of reference to suggest it had an unrelated purpose, leading some observers, including prominent Sydney silk Geoffrey Watson, SC, to label it a “hatchet job”.
Former senior Crown prosecutor Mark Tedeschi, KC, said on Tuesday that he had worked with Dowling for many years and she was “a person of the utmost integrity and ability”.
“The findings by majority of the committee fly in the face of the only evidence available to them,” Tedeschi said. “They would never stand up in a court of law.”
Daley said after the report was delivered that he had instructed the Crown Solicitor’s Office to brief senior counsel to undertake an independent review of the report in light of his “serious concerns about the findings and recommendations of the report”.
He said on Friday that “[the] Crown Solicitor has since engaged Noel Hutley, SC, to conduct that review”. Hutley, a top silk, is a former Bar Association president.
The NSW Court of Appeal said earlier this year it was unaware of any other case involving “a sitting judge making a submission to a parliamentary committee about the conduct of a litigant in pending proceedings before the judge”. The court said it was fair to describe this as extraordinary.
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Michaela Whitbourn
Michaela Whitbourn is a legal affairs reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.
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Clare Sibthorpe is a crime reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.
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